ALICE or ALL ICE
by MircThomas19
Summary: At the end of 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors we were left on a cliffhanger when a truck carrying the survivors across the Arizona Desert until a woman deserted like a Egyptian Pharaoh was spotted doing the hitchhiker sign. What happened afterwards? This is my second attempt at a One-shot.


ALICE OR ALL ICE

Who are you?

 **Disclaimer: I don't own 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.**

My name is Junpei Tenmyouji, I am a college student. The name of my school is not important, it is that I am still alive does matter. I was one of the nine people, nine strangers that were 'chosen' for a game. It was called the Nonary Game, in which we all placed our lives at stake; that meant that dying was part of the game.

Our objective was to stay together until the way out of the ship, which was starting to sink, was found and opened. To do that, we all had to go through nine doors each had a number from 1-9. We were all given a time limit of nine hours until the ship sinks completely into the ocean. The key to opening these doors was bracelets on our wrists that each shown a number from that range as well. But the keys were also bomb detonators as well, for the miniature bombs in our bodies so that when one of us breaks the rules, certain death awaits us.

People did die and for the matter, we all thought that we were the only ones on the sinking ship along with a bastard named Zero who claimed to be the captain of the sinking ship. We were wrong, only one of us nine did die and there was nothing to change all that. We just found out that there were other people on board and they were to be set up to be killed by the same person who happened to be one of the chosen ones and the ones with the bracelets.

We all found out who killed all those people and tried to kill us all too. Exposing him to a dark and bloody history of kidnapping of sixteen children only to place them in dangerous situations. All this was because despite being the CEO of a famous company named Cradle Pharmaceutical that sold effective healing medicine, he was cursed with severe prosopagnosia which is the inability to distinguish, identify, recognize, and memorize faces. The part of his brain used for facial recognition is impaired. It is never clarified what type his prosopagnosia is, and if it extends to being unable to process real-life faces in real time, or simply recollection-based prosopagnosia (difficulty remembering facial details and identifying faces in real-life because of it).

What the bastard wanted was to finally see different faces for once in his life. He had the dam nerve to accuse us of laughing at how he was disabled like that so that was why he turned into a cold, heartless dick who played with human lives. He even killed his former associates like Zero wanted him to, turning that bastard into a remorseless killer and that bastard we called Ace could only smile about it.

It was a good thing we had sold him out for justice since another one of us was a police officer once and was assigned to the missing children's case and he managed to save them all from a sinking ship that was based on the unlucky _Titanic_. Where everyone else went was none of my business and I guess it doesn't matter since they will just fine now that their lives have no more questions. I never heard back from any of them as soon as when reached civilization once again, it was almost like I never met them to begin with.

But the trip there was one I will never forget, along with what happened on the 'sinking ship' run by Zero who invited us to the death game. This is our story,

XXXXX

As they raced through the hallway which led to a spiral staircase, they never once took a breather because their freedom was just at the end of the staircase. Seven was carrying Ace who was bound in the limbs and the mouth so he won't try anything. Clover was trying to help her brother Snake make up the staircase himself. Pretty soon another door was in sight so Junpei pulled on it. It released very easily but Junpei had to shield his eyes as the light he saw on the other side wasn't from any electric lamp. It was the sun.

They were on a building that only looked like a ship from the inside and nothing on the outside; the building was in the middle of the desert! "Could this be the building used in the experiment to tap into the Metamorphic Field?" Lotus asked and Junpei could only nod as he traversed the surroundings with his eyes that were adjusting to the sunlight of early morning.

They all felt and heard something clink open and fall to the ground. It was the bracelets; Zero did say that the bracelets will only come off if the wearer's heart beat reaches zero or when they escaped. In this case, it was the brighter and second set of circumstance that caused them to fall.

"Okay you little shits. Let's just set where the detonators are." Junpei said as he took one and opened the side that faced their flesh on their arms or sleeves. "What? There is nothing in this bracelet that looks like a detonator, more like an ATM Card or something." Everyone took this in; maybe not all of them had bombs in their bodies after all, only the ones that Zero had planned for them to die. That sure was anticlimactic.

Then they found something else, a jeep on the ground around the building. Their excitement overriding their systems, the overjoyed people raced to the jeep and found it full to the liter of gas in the tank and it even had water jugs that were somehow preserved in this heat. Anyway, they took the jeep and now were driving down the desert in hopes of catching up to Akane and Aoi.

Meanwhile, they interrogated Gentarou who was placed in the cramped truck about why he caused the Nonary Game years ago. It turned out that Junpei was right on the money about him wanting to see through the eyes that showed everyone a world of various and distinctive faces just for once. Gentarou also admitted to finding the coffin of Alice hoping to find the body but instead found a very rare root that acts like medicine to vision disabilities. This root pathed the root to his successfully company but even all the medicine it can make, Gentarou's own disability was not to be cured of. He was still going to be charged with kidnapping and murder once they find a city to settle in.

Junpei was thinking hard on when he last saw Akane. It was some months after the rabbits were found dead in their hutch at the elementary school. The police turned out empty until Junpei and Akane found the culprits. A bunch of older kids from a rival school had dosed a stray kitten with kerosene and were planning on burning it alive! Junpei charged in without thinking while Akane fled with the kitten and for the police. Once the cops arrived on the scene, they quickly subdued the mid school kids and stopped them from trying to kill Junpei; the least the blonde boy had gotten off with some bruises and some missing teeth but he was going to do just fine. The evening when the children were jailed for animal abuse and murder, Junpei and Akane were enjoying the sunset after hearing that Akane's family was going to move away. They shared their last moments together before ironically calling a doll of Akane that Junpei had made as June.

After taking another trip down memory lane, Clover, who was driving for some reason, had pointed out something or someone. It was a fair tanned woman striking the hitchhiker's pose while wearing Egyptian clothing! "Need a lift?" Clover said and the woman nodded,

"My name is Alice and I do need a lift to where ever you are going. Thank you."

XXXXX

An hour had passed since Clover had picked up 'Alice' off the desert and still there was no end to the vast sands and heat and sun. Not that their supplies of water or gas was going to be a problem too. It was just the concern and worry from within the ship shaped building they had left behind was now back and settling in their hearts once again. What if they were going the wrong way? It wasn't easy to calm down since they have no map of this desert.

"Oh we are going the right way." Alice said as if she was able to read their minds.

"Yeah right and just how the hell do you know that? If you do then why did you need to hitchhike? You can walk the way through even in that outfit." Junpei was the most critical but as usual, Lotus delivered sweat and swift justice.

"And just what is wrong with how we dress? I hate it too but I don't complain about it!" Lotus and her hair like the tentacles of an octopus scared every other man including Gentarou somehow since he couldn't see what was going on.

"Anyway…" Alice said to diffuse this tense atmosphere. "I know that we are going the right way because I was going in that direction but I will die of heat stroke and that is after I get blisters and sunburns all over." That made perfect sense and especially in a desert, one of the most dangerous and merciless places possible on Earth. Everyone then stared at Junpei with disappointed looks, causing him to scoff and look away; that was the best way he could think of to hide his expression of hurt.

"I think Alice is right! I think I see some buildings in the distance, just on the other side of that giant sand dune! We should get there under a half hour!" Clover said and everyone hustled to get a good look and they saw the pointed tops of what they can recognize as towers. And towers are always found in towns and cities!

"See?" Alice said with a smug on her face. "I told you that we were going the right way." She then said nothing and tried to drown herself in her victory over Junpei but he had one good questions.

"Do you know Akane and Aoi Kurashiki?" Junpei asked Alice who moved her head 90 degrees to the right.

"Who are they?" Alice said, not understand why everyone was getting a little nervous.

"They are brother and sister and they are why we are driving in this desert. Are you sure we are going in the same direction as them?"

XXXXX

When they arrived where they saw the towers, it was indeed a town. It was a port town, where they have ships come in with sailors that bring in customers for the shops and restaurants and also the supplies both of those type of buildings need for their businesses. It seemed to be filled with people for sure but that wasn't important.

"I have never seen a girl or a boy like that."

"There is no jeep here and there hasn't been one here today or for the past week."

"I don't know any Akane or Aoi Kurashiki."

"You are wasting your time. Now get lost."

Junpei was near the end of his rope. They have fond civilization but not the ones they were hoping to meet up with. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID…" Junpei never finished when he tried to turn to Alice and yell at her but there was no such woman of tanned skin and Egyptian clothing in sight. "Alice? Where are you?"

"Alice? Who is Alice?" Junpei turned to face whoever said that and explain until he realized that he didn't recognize the one who asked. It wasn't one from his company and come to think of it, Junpei never heard back to him form them either.

"Guys? Where are you!?" Junpei started to panic and this was nothing to when he was separated in the desert building. He asked around trying to find out where they went but Junpei only got feedback similar to when he asked about Akane or Santa. Junpei just couldn't believe it and tried to retrace his steps back to the jeep.

But when he arrived back at the entrance he remembered where the jeep was supposed to be parked, there was no jeep. Nothing, not even the tire tracks the jeep had made. He asked around for a jeep but everyone he talked to said that there was no jeep, only him appearing as if out of nowhere. Junpei just couldn't believe what is happening when he noticed that everyone was wearing a bracelet like the one he used to and they had all sorts of numbers and not just from 1 to 9. This was a nightmare all over again.

'Everything.' Junpei thought, oblivious to everyone telling him to get off their path. 'All this was just some kind of joke.' Junpei thought again and he did move in order to find at least one of his company but he will come to regret it soon. When he found Clover and Snake, they were just the regular brother and sister and they didn't recognize him. He found Seven as a police officer who was arresting Gentarou but they also didn't recognize him. Lotus was just a regular mother with her young twins and she didn't know him either. But the real hard heating blow that reality had to throw at him was when he saw Alice on the cover of a book; searching the pages as rapid as gunfire, he found a page that said 'Alice' or 'ALL ICE' was just a mummy who disappeared from her coffin and was never seen again. Now Junpei wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"Everyone…" Junpei ignored the rain poured down on him as he left that book store, he ignored how cold it was when his clothes got wet, and he ignored the stares of the people who just walk by without as much as a look of pity. "Snake…Clover…Seven…Lotus…Alice…where are you all?" Junpei muttered as the rain caused his clothes to get damp and seemingly fused to his skin through the moisture. "Why did you leave? We were supposed to find Akane and Santa. Why did you leave me!?" Junpei yelled to the rain clouds that flooded his open mouth with cold droplets.

No one answered, everyone just returned to their homes and all the stray animals were elsewhere but no answered Junpei's pleas. There was no one there for Junpei anymore. He didn't even know how to get back to his college because he had no idea where he was. They all left him and didn't even say 'goodbye'.

There was no sign of Akane of her brother. There were no jeep tracks or any sight of a girl with a boy under the description. It was like they indeed went the wrong way and now that there no jeep for themselves, Junpei had no idea where to go anymore. "DAMMIT!"

Junpei suddenly got up, clearing frustrated with how things turned out and then charged through the rain. He didn't care where he might end up in, his mind was clouded by thick and severe emotions. Friendship, trust, love, and faith were not within the storm of feelings. Junpei just remembered what Santa told him from the ship shaped prison of a building. That if you relay on those emotions then you will get burned badly when they betray you.

Maybe he was right, maybe Junpei just relied on his friends and his crush. That is why they left him; after they escaped, Junpei was no longer there friend, just extra baggage they took along because they thought that he will solve this mystery on where Akane and her brother will be. But Junpei had let them down. Junpei had nothing now and that is how things are going to be for this boy who suffered so much.

"Never again do you hear me!?" Junpei yelled as he continued to run through the port town and stole a boat he found on the pier. He didn't care who was listening, on the ground or up in the sky. "I will never trust anyone ever again! I will never help anyone! I will never be anyone's friend! I will never even love anyone anymore! All I have is myself and that is going to the one I am going to help and look out for!"

Junpei then stopped to catch his breath as the boat drifted against the sea, going where the wind will take it and Junpei. "Never, ever, ever again." Junpei then muttered like he suddenly got a sore throat and a cold. Junpei then started to break down in tears and cried himself to sleep. He never work up that night or when the sun broke through the rainstorm. The sun was just the warmest thing Junpei had ever felt since escaping with his life and the lives of eight strangers and it is going to be the only thing that will make Junpei feel warm for ages to come.

End of Story.

 ***Hello everyone! I thought I will try another One-Shot like you asked. I was aware of the cliffhanger they had at the end of 999 but I wanted to tell how it will lead to its sequel, Zero Escape. All I can tell you about that game was that is takes place many years after 999 and with Junpei as a distrusting old man surrounded by strangers although he knows two of them.**

 **Please tell me what you think of this and remember that it is a One-shot so when I publish it, it will not be updated. Thanks for all the support you gave me and have a nice September!**

 **Another thing is what was the big fucking deal about how i couldn't access my profile at home yesterday? I couldn't even do it today to publish this One-Shot! Maybe it was something wrong with the network that they finally got fixed today.***


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